Here is another great article written by our guest author, Kabir.

Local search is booming. Internet users are turning to local search to find just about everything, including where to eat. If you operate a local business, you will find this article extremely useful.

Kabir Bedi is the senior web consultant at LeXolution IT Services, a premier web designing company based in India. He leads a team of professional web developers to create web solutions for their clients. He also helps clients to establish a strong business presence on social media platforms.

4 Tips To Improve your Restaurant Business Visibility in Local Search

Local search has come to become increasingly relevant in the recent times. As people become more and more net savvy, the web has become part of our daily lives. For any problem that we have, no matter how small or how big, the first thought that comes to the mind is… ‘Lets Google it!’

Naturally so, we have started looking online for routine questions like ‘Where can we go for a Saturday night dinner?’ or ‘Where can I get Chinese food?’

This has resulted in a spurt of new opportunities for local businesses, especially restaurants and food chains. With just a bit of optimization, you can leverage the full potential of the Local Search and enhance your businesses’ visibility and drive in more people.

Here are some tips to optimize your business for local search:

1. Understand the Requirements of your Target Audience

Everyone likes to build a brand name for themselves! But that’s no reason that your business name should be you prime keywords. Remember, people would already know the names of their favorite restaurants. What they search online is for newer places they can try out… So they would be using phrases like Chinese food +New York, breakfast restaurants around Paris etc.

Thus, it is extremely important to know how consumers search and for this, you can use Google AdWords Keyword Tool. It tells you the popularity of a search phrase that people use to find your restaurant and how they do it.

2. Claim your Place in Google Maps

Google Maps is of incredible importance to local businesses. In fact, you should claim your listing in Maps of other search engines as well. This is because people, especially mobile web users often search directly on the maps page for places. And when search engines determine a matching map result, it shows it directly in the web search results.

If you claim your business listing in Google Maps, your listing pops up immediately for any related search query. Now say, someone is trying to find directions to your place, a listing on Google Maps is the best way to sail them in. And if you don’t have one… you just end up losing business!

Just go to Google’s Local Business Center and claim their listing. Make sure you put your business into the right category and provide complete information. If the maps already list your business, you can claim ownership and load it with crisp and compelling information that attracts people.

3. Make your Website Search Friendly

For any sort of search, be it local or otherwise, the first step is to have an efficient website. No matter the multifarious features made available by social media, one cannot negate the importance of having a dedicated website for a business.

Make sure your website is optimized for search engines. Include compelling content on your site that engages your audience and provides them what they are looking for. Some things that restaurants should include in their websites are a location map, menu card, special offers and discounts etc.

Also, restaurant owners are often tempted to build attractive Flash websites. However, its better to have a healthy combination of Flash and HTML so that you don’t lose out any SEO benefits at the cost of visual elegance.

4. Establish a Firm Presence on Social Media

There is no ignoring Social Media in the present world. Not only can you engage with your audiences, you can also increases your search visibility by having a strong presence on social media platforms. In addition to Facebook & Twitter, target location based platforms like FourSquare, Yelp etc.

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Here is another great article written by our guest author, Kabir.

SEO or PPC – Which route do you take? Here are some great insights from an expert.

Kabir Bedi is the senior web consultant at LeXolution IT Services, a professional web designing company based in India. He leads a team of professional web developers to create web solutions for their clients.

SEO or PPC – What Is Best For Your Business?

Internet marketing has acquired immense potential in the recent times. The world wide web is not only the most powerful but also the most cost effective avenue to market your business. It can take your business on an international scale and gain you exposure from across the world.

However, with so many means of online marketing, how do you know what would be the best for your business?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC) are two of the popular means of online marketing. Each has its advantage sand disadvantages and can be used effectively to drive in business revenue. But you need to evaluate the pros and cons of both of them and choose the one that is compatible with your business model and marketing objectives.

Here is a basic comparison between SEO and PPC campaigns:

SEO is the process of optimizing a website such that it ranks highly in organic search results so that when users search for something on Google, they see your website listed among the top slots. PPC is the paid advertising that you see at the top and right hand side of the SERPs.

Return On Investment

ROI is greater as compared to PPC campaigns because the initial and ongoing costs of SEO are almost negligible. Even if you hire a professional SEO company to do the job for your, you can expect a greater ROI. PPC being expensive affairs themselves, provide comparatively lesser ROI.

Trust & Credibility

Since organic results are natural, internet users place more trust in it than PPC campaigns. Since they deem it as more credible, they are more likely to click on these results than sponsored ads.

Performance

Organic results give your consistent performance throughout the buying decision of your consumers, right from the time of initial research to the final purchase of your products or services. SEO campaigns have a prolonged life-cycle! PPC campaigns are active and provide results only till you are paying money. When you withdraw your subscription, they stop appearing on SERPs and you stop getting any benefit whatsoever.

Ease of Rankings

Even though SEO is a challenging arena, it is easier to rank highly in less competitive markets. All you need to make sure is that your website is optimized efficiently. PPC campaigns give you the freedom to choose where and how you want your listing to appear. You can pay for the position that you want.

Time

SEO campaigns can take a long while before you start seeing any visible results. On the other hand, results of PPC campaigns can be seen almost instantly and is therefore great for publicizing short term offers.

Efforts

SEO is not a one-time thing. Rather, you need to diligently carry out various activities. It requires a series of ongoing updates to keep the content fresh and search engines happy. PPC campaigns are a one-time thing. You just need to draft an ad and submit it to Google.

SEO is better for your business if you want to make a long term online presence. However, if you just want a short, sharp burst to promote your offers, then PPC is the way to go!

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A few weeks ago I wrote a post about how to use blogs to build your ebusiness. Today, I want to do the same for Twitter.

Again, I will make it clear from the outset that I’m no social media expert. I am writing from common sense and instincts here.

Twitter has gone mainstream. Everyone’s talking about it; it’s all over the media and companies are falling over themselves to get involved. Name any company, from the global giants to the local taco business. We have the celebrities, and we also have the average Joe’s. Everyone is going Twitter-crazy.

Business people with limited budget and resource will often ask whether they should use Twitter: what will it do for them, how should they use it, and is it worth the time involved? Is it a good Internet marketing tool?

For a small business, using Twitter is more about customer or prospect engagement than advertising or branding. However, by engaging customers and building a rapport, your brand becomes even more visible.

Twitter – like all social media – is all about creating conversations, rather than pushing out a one-way message. It can be an incredibly useful way of engaging with customers, prospects or influencers such as analysts or journalists or even your critics.

But as with any activity, assess the merits of using it before you jump in. Ask yourself the right questions.  What would be your main objective? Who are the people you want to reach? Are they (or their influencers) using Twitter (or are they likely to start soon – remember, it’s a fast-growing platform)? And do you want to start two-way discussions with them? Do you have the time to facilitate this two-way discussion in a consistent and sustainable way?

If the answer to these is no, then perhaps Twitter is not for you.

But if you are interested in talking to (not at) your audiences, then Twitter offers a simple, effective way for you to engage with and respond to people, really fast.

Using the search.twitter.com tool, you can find out what customers or prospects think about a company, or issue. It gives you the opportunity to respond directly to ideas and complaints; thank people for positive feedback; test new ideas for products or services; keep your target audiences up to date with news; or just keep involved with what people are doing in your industry. The good thing is that it can all be fun!

The best part about using Twitter is that it is free!

If you are going to get involved with Twitter, make sure you do it properly. Don’t bore people to death with what you had for breakfast, or use it as a glorified RSS feed. Your tweets should have a personal feel to them. No one wants some endless and meaningless RSS feed from your website, forum etc.

Send tweets about things that your audience will be interested in, and people interested in your area, industry, niche etc’ll soon follow you.

Tweet regularly, but not obsessively. Don’t pest people with your tweets. Think of it like a conversation at a party: no one likes the person who says nothing, nor the person who just can’t seem to shut up!

You can follow on Twitter at:
http://twitter.com/ebusinessnames

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Microsoft has unexpectedly launch their new search engine ahead of schedule. Bing.com is the new face of search and will replace Live.com. Searches from Live are already being redirected to Bing.com.

Microsoft is quoted on saying:

”Bing is specifically designed to build on the benefits of today’s search engines but begins to move beyond this experience with a new approach to user experience and intuitive tools to help customers make better decisions, focusing initially on four key vertical areas: making a purchase decision, planning a trip, researching a health condition or finding a local business”.

Although Bing is not Live Search, it is somewhat based on it.

It will be interesting to see how well Bing does in comparison to its predecessor Live, and whether it will attract long-term users, rather than tyre-kickers. However, the reception on Twitter has been reasonably positive.

Already people are comparing it with Google. It does seem to work much better than Google for finding real product info and reviews, where Google’s results are loaded with spam and all sorts of price comparison rubbish.

But in most respects, Google still rules for the moment. Bing is an incomplete beta, and while it’s looking impressive, it’s not yet an actual match for Google.

Microsoft knows perfectly well that it’s going to take it “years and years and years” (in Steve Ballmer’s words) to get anywhere in search, if it ever does.

Microsoft will have to overtake Yahoo first. So, comparisons with Google are a bit misguided at present. In reality, Bing is competing with Yahoo and Ask to be the leading Google alternative.

Microsoft PR reckons Bing is “the sound of found” but the common joke is that it stands recursively for Bing Is Not Google.

Tighten your seat belts as we are definitely in for a ride with online search. Let the competition begin!

I will declare at the very outset of this post that I am not an expert on blogging or social media or whatever fancy terms that are flying about out there.

When God created me, he gave me a big head and stuffed a brain in it. That is what I use. There is nothing like good old common sense.

Most of my blogging here on eBusinessDomains.com domain blog is nothing more than common sense chatter, rather than any “expert” or trained professional analysis.

Blogs are great resources, and with software like WordPress that is so readily available, starting and maintaining a blog is relatively easy and cheap.

A blog can help to drive traffic to your website. Blogs are designed to ping the search engines immediately after you make a post, and as such your new article will be indexed in the search engines within minutes.

Unlike regular content pages, blog pages also have XML/RSS feeds, which notify your subscribers whenever a new post has been made on your blog. This helps your website to maintain a constant flow of repeat visitors.

Blogs are also interactive, as they also allow readers to leave comments and participate in the discussion. This results in user-generated content for your website. This can also help with your website traffic, and even with SEO.

From a website visitor’s point of view, I personally use blogs to evaluate a website and its products and services. If a website has a blog, it gives me a clear indication that the site is being maintained, it is current, and that the owners are committed to their products and services. I get this sense of security just by seeing that the website has an active blog.

I then proceed to use the blog’s content to analyse the quality of the website’s product and services. I look at the authority with which the blog is written. Does the author know much about their service/product niche or industry? Do they provide current and relevant information?

This is extremely important for SEO experts and Internet marketers who are trying to sell ebooks and related services. The authority that they display on their blogs will give me an indication as to if their ebooks, products and/or services are worth buying.

Another really important way in which I use blog to analyse a website’s product and services is to look at how long the blog has been around. This helps to judge if the website is an established player in their niche, and whether or not they are some Johnny-come-lately wannabes.

In accountancy and business studies, the very first thing that you will learn is that the business has a separate identity from its owners. This is so important, as this really is the very basis and foundation of double entry accounting, especially with the treatment of capital from the owners. Never mind this paragraph .

However, what I’m trying to say here is that it is best to leave you personal life out of your blogging, especially if you maintain a corporate blog. Customers do indeed want a personal feel to the service that they get, but that does not mean you should bring all sorts of personal drama into your business.

Suppose you wish to sell the website/ebusiness in the future, would the new owner be comfortable with all of your unrelated personal stories scattered across the blog? Maintain blogs that are professional and transferable.

One thing that I see a lot of bloggers doing is having all sorts of warfare (sometimes really nasty exchange of words) with some of the visitors that leave comments on their blogs.

Now, you have to understand that in everything you do, whether in your personal life or in business, some people will love you for one thing, and some will hate your guts for the very said thing.

You can’t afford to get caught playing the popularity game. Business is business. Focus on the customers who will actually spend money with you. The people who leave nasty comments will NEVER buy anything from you. NEVER. Don’t waste precious time on these payer-haters, nay-sayers and hypocrites.

Focus on serving the needs of the people who already got money to spend and would be willing to spend some with you. There is no point in seeking and maintaining popularity that cannot be converted to cash.

We have just redesigned the eBusinessDomains.com website, and we are now having new banners and marketing materials prepared. I have been short-listing a few blogs that I think are worth advertising with.

Over the past few weeks, I have had to remove at least 2 blogs from this list as they expressed unnecessary bias or views that were just not acceptable in my opinion. The funny thing is, these blogs are heavily dependent on banner ad sales for their income.

Whether or not you depend on banner ad sales, you should not risk eliminating or isolating customers. Just one stupid blog post could spell disaster for your business.

I will end by saying, blog in a professional, unbiased and sensible way. Blog responsibly. Use blogs to build your brands. Don’t let your blogging efforts destroy your ebusiness.